Alcuin: Charlemagne's Finest Scholar

Dan Graves, MSL

Church History Timeline

England lost her greatest teacher and Western
Europe gained one of the finest scholars it would see for centuries, when
Alcuin of York in England, met Charlemagne in Parma in 781. The noble-born
Englishman had risen to the leadership of the school at York, earning
himself an international reputation. Charles convinced him to share his
talents with his empire and bestowed on him the abbeys of Ferrières
and St. Loup. Steeped in the pedagogical tradition of Bede, Alcuin stirred
the Franks to acquire the little learning they were to possess in the
so called "Dark Ages."

From 782 to 790 he transplanted Anglo-Saxon learning to the continent.
In addition to preparing elementary textbooks in dialog form and brain
teasers which called for the shrewd use of geometry and algebra, he reformed
Frankish laws and advised the emperor. It was Alcuin who urged Charlemagne
to delay answering Pope Leo III, forcing the prelate to come to the emperor.
Unfortunately, the emperor did not listen when Alcuin urged him not to
force conversion on the heathen Saxons, who eventually retaliated with war and slaughter.

Alcuin founded the Carolignian palace library and developed a script
of small characters called Carolignian Minuscule which allowed more letters
than before to be written on a single expensive page of parchment. Of
great beauty, this script was later employed by the earliest printers.
Manuscripts copied under Alcuin's headship were renowned for their calligraphy.

In 790 Alcuin returned to England but was recalled to the continent by
Charlemagne within a few years. The teacher-priest was given the additional
abbey of St. Martin in Tours. Immediately it became a Mecca for the scholars
of Europe, eager to learn from the master. One of his most notable students
was the encyclopedist Rhabanus Maurus. Alcuin summed up his own contribution,
saying, "[I] dispensed the honey of the scripture, intoxicated my
students with the wine of ancient learning, fed them the apples of grammatical
refinement, and adorned them with the knowledge of astronomy."

Actually, Alcuin cared for astronomy only to the extent it was useful
to calculate the Christians' all important date: Easter. Neither his astronomy
nor his other writings were very original. His letters, however, open
a window onto the age. 312 survive, addressed to
recipients by some personal characteristic or by their latinized names.
All were written in Latin, as were his sermons, poems, theology, epistles,
and history.

Alcuin was strictly orthodox, a purveyor of the gospel and virtue. He
raised the level of knowledge of churchmen and stimulated the mind of
an age besieged by barbarian invasions. In doing so, he molded the tenor
of Europe's subsequent thought and left a legacy of trained minds to keep
alive the embers of religion, culture, and science in Europe. He died
on this day, May 19, 804.